Their friendship had its separations and disagreements, and after the early 1940s they seldom recorded together. But the bond endured.
They met in Harlem in the 1930s and briefly overlapped in the Count Basie Orchestra. She called him “The President” — “Prez” — because she considered him the finest saxophonist of them all. He called her “Lady Day.”
The Music
A Sailboat in the Moonlight (excerpt) Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra | Vocalion Complete Billie Holiday Lester Young CD 1 1937 :30 (excerpt)
Delta Serenade (theme) Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra | Victor A Duke Ellington Panorama 1940 :30 (excerpt)
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five | Okeh I Can’t Give You Anything but Love 1929 3:31
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra, Billie Holiday vocal | Brunswick The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia CD 2 1936 3:31
Your Mother’s Son-in-Law Benny Goodman & His Orchestra, Billie Holiday vocal | Columbia Benny Goodman Diamond 1933 2:43
Trav’lin’ All Alone Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra Vocalion Complete Billie Holiday Lester Young CD 1 1937 2:14
What a Little Moonlight Can Do Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra, Billie Holiday vocal | Brunswick Presenting Teddy Wilson 1935 2:57
Shoeshine Boy, Jones-Smith Inc. (Count Basie & His Orchestra) | Decca 1936 3:03
Pagin’ the Devil (Take 1) Kansas City Six Vocalion The Definitive Lester
Young - Ken Burns Jazz 1938 3:00
Lester Leaps In Count Basie’s Kansas City Seven | Vocalion Count Basie’s Kansas City Seven (Album Version) 1939 3:15
This Year’s Kisses Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra, Billie Holiday vocal | Brunswick Presenting Teddy Wilson 1937 3:15
The Very Thought of You Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra | Vocalion Billie Holiday My Last Affair 1938 2:46
All of Me Billie Holiday with Eddie Heywood & His Orchestra | Okeh Complete Billie Holiday Lester Young CD 3 1941 1:56
D.B. Blues Lester Young Quintet | Aladdin The Definitive Lester Young - Ken Burns Jazz 1945 2:58
Fine and Mellow Billie Holiday (The Sound of Jazz - excerpt) CBS Television The Sound of Jazz 1957 7:42
Billie Holiday with Eddie Heywood Orchestra
“All Of Me”
March 21, 1941
Shad Collins (tp), Leslie Johnakins, Eddie Barefield (as), Lester Young (ts), Eddie Heywood (p), John Collins (g), Ted Sturgis (b), Kenny Clarke (d), Billie Holiday (vcl).
